Seed giant Monsanto and Mendel Biotechnology are teaming up to develop a variety of grass seeds ideal for ethanol and biodiesel production. This story from the St. Louis (MO) Post-Dispatch has more: [St. Louis-area]-based Monsanto will lend its crop testing, breeding and seed production expertise to the BioEnergy Seeds & Feedstocks unit of Mendel, which is headquartered in Hayward, Calif. …
Groundbreaking on Oil from Ethanol
VeraSun Energy broke ground on a new facility last week that will tap into ethanol for oil. VeraSun’s patent-pending Oil Extraction process is designed to yield 7-8 million gallons of corn oil annually from 390,000 tons of distillers grains currently produced at VeraSun’s ethanol production facility in Aurora, S.D. The corn oil will then be made available for sale into …
Ethanol Industry Supports Farm Bill Changes
A tentative agreement reached by conference committee members on funding for a new farm bill would reduce the tax incentive for blenders to use ethanol from 51 cents a gallon to 45 cents. The president of the Renewable Fuels Association says they can support that. “We do understand that they are looking at that in order to pay for cellulosic …
Corn Growers Chairman Responds to Attacks on Ethanol
The recent criticism of ethanol doesn’t sit too well with the chairman of the National Corn Growers Association. Ken McCauley says the figures used in the article published today in the Kansas City Star, for example, were too vague. He says they didn’t properly represent real data and were spun in such a way to make ethanol a culprit… a …
Getting To Know Toni
Toni Nuernberg is the newest member of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council. She joined EPIC as the new executive director about 2 months ago, replacing Tom Slunecka after he accepted the offer to become the Vice President of Business Development for KL Process Design Group in South Dakota. We already heard from Toni during EPIC’s press conference on the …
Tiny Taste of Indy
Just being able to snag a ticket to the race means a huge Indy experience for most racing fans. But, some race-goers are lucky enough to snag tickets for the Hot Lap, taking their Indy experience one step further. The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council holds a raffle for every member racing event. For the Roadrunner Turbo Indy 300 here …
Ryan Has High Hopes for “Home” Race
Team Ethanol Driver Ryan Hunter-Reay knows that the ethanol industry started here, in the nation’s heartland. That’s why he fondly refers to the Roadrunner Turbo Indy 300 as a “home” race. He knows that the Midwest is where most of ethanol production begins. He said a high finish for today’s race at the Kansas Speedway would be a great start …
Beatn’ the Heat on Ethanol
There’s no question that there’s been a media barrage giving ethanol a bad rap. Just today, the Kansas City Star’s cover story focused on criticism of the alternative fuel. That story came just in time for today’s Roadrunner Turbo Indy 300. The entire IndyCar Series runs on nearly 100 percent ethanol fuel. And, leading representatives of the ethanol industry say …
Turbo Racing
The Roadrunner Turbo Indy 300 is officially underway and the ethanol flag once again signaled “green” for go. Ethanol has been the center of a lot of criticism in the media lately, but that couldn’t be further from the truth out here on the race track. In one of the media events earlier in the day, Team Ethanol Driver Ryan …
Roadrunner Turbo Indy 300 in KC
It’s a cold one out on the track at the Kansas Speedway today. I’m here covering the Roadrunner Turbo Indy 300. Fortunately, the clouds and mist are breaking up and a bit of blue sky is peeking through. Hopefully, that mean things will heat up. Right now it’s 45 degrees and that’s causing some delays. Official Indy rules require the …